Tim Moss and Becky Turnquist Moss gave a presentation about their Peace Corps service in Burkina Faso at a Rotary Club

The triumphs of their year of Peace Corps service have included learning French, integrating into the community, improving their students' study skills, adapting to the culture, forming various clubs and exchanging cultures. Something else they appreciate about the culture of their community is the hospitality of the people. "I didn't expect them to be so open," Tim said. "Their hospitality is mind-blowing." They left for their U.S. visit just before the planting season, and their neighbor is concerned enough about them having food that he has promised to plant corn for them. "It makes you go, 'wow,'" Tim said.

Caption: Tim Moss and Becky Turnquist Moss give a presentation on their Peace Corps service at Monday's Rotary Club meeting. They have served one year in Africa and will be going back for a second year soon.

MONMOUTH - Tim Moss and Becky Turnquist Moss gave a presentation about their Peace Corps service in Burkina Faso at a Rotary Club meeting Monday.

They are halfway through a two-year commitment in the secondary education sector. Becky is a Monmouth native and a graduate of Warren High School. She and her husband, Tim, met while at Illinois College. During their time there they were both involved in community service organizations, including improving literacy and volunteering at nursing homes. Their commitment to helping others, combined with a desire to travel, led them to choose the Peace Corps as their next step.

Their country of service, Burkin Faso, is in West Africa, neighboring Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Togo, Benin and Niger. Becky teaches seventh grade math, while Tim teaches eighth through 11th grade computers, each working in the schools 15 hours per week, in addition to other projects outside the school.

One of those projects includes cultivating farms of the merengue tree, also known as the "tree of life." The leaves of this tree have many needed vitamins and minerals that people often lack in their usual diet.

In their last year of service, their work goals include increasing the pass rates in their classes, helping prepare senior students for their final oral exams, working with an orphanage, rehabilitating undernourished children and planting a successful garden. They also want to introduce biochar into the country, a way of turning millit stalks into charcoal to use less wood.

Other Peace Corps volunteers in Burkina Faso work in small enterprise development, health education, girls' education and empowerment and will soon work in environment and agriculture as well.

The Peace Corps began working in Burkina Faso in 1966 continuously until 1987. They pulled out of the country but returned in 1995. The capital is Ouagadougou and the official language is French. Other highly spoken languages include Mooré, Jula, Lobi, Bissa and Fulfulde. The Mosses speak French most of the time, but they also are learning Mooré. They said one volunteer had to learn five local languages.

The tropical country, about the size of Colorado, has 15.7 million people with a life expectancy of 47.5 years. There are three main religions: animism, Islam and Christianity. Speaking of the Muslims and the Christians, Becky said, "I've never seen two different religions mix so well," adding Christians and Muslims celebrate each other's holidays. She also talked about the animists, who worship multiple gods and believe in sorcery, genies, goblins and witch doctors.

"If you have honey and want to take it on the bus, you must talk with the driver," Becky said. "Otherwise the goblin will make the bus break down so he can get the honey."

She said the driver will put honey on the wheels of the bus so that it spills onto the road as it drives by. That way the goblin will eat the honey on the road, allowing the bus to arrive safely at its destination.

"If anything goes wrong, they blame the goblins," she said.

Their community is about the size of Monmouth. The couple said they have electricity and until recently got their water from a well. Shortly before they came back to the U.S., their landlord installed pipes to bring running water into their house. They also went until March of this year without any Internet, but have recently been able to access it with a flash drive that connects to cell phone signals.

To access television, many people in their community use car batteries to provide energy to see the programs through a satellite. Everyone there has watched as many World Cup games as possible, most of them rooting for their neighbor Ghana.

The climate was another topic they covered. The coldest day they have recorded was 87 degrees. The hottest day that they have personally kept a record of was 120 degrees. After that, they stopped keeping track.

"Your body can't really tell the difference between 100 and 120. It's just hot," Becky said. Some of their challenges in the Peace Corps included the language, class sizes, the culture and being an American.

Tim and Becky did not speak French before leaving. Becky had taken seven years of Spanish and Tim lived in Germany for a year, so learning yet another language was a challenge. They are now able to teach in French, but some of their students speak another language and are only just beginning to learn French.

"Sometimes there are kids that sit there with a blank look on their face. I have to ask another student to translate to Mooré so they know what's going on," Becky said.

Their class sizes can range from 30 to 130 students.

Various aspects of culture have been an obstacle for them. Tim, who is left-handed, has an especially hard time.

"The left hand is considered dirty in Muslim culture," Becky said.

"There's also no toilet paper," Tim added.

The culture requires that the right hand be used for everything in public. Sometimes Tim will forget that rule, which gets him some good-natured laughter from his fellow community members.

Becky also said a trip to the market to buy tomatoes can take her a half hour because the culture of Burkina Faso requires a person greet everyone they meet, asking questions about their family and how life is going.

"If I have several things to buy, I have to plan on adding more time at the market," Becky said.

The couple added that those aspects are a manifestation of the fact that people there are involved with each other's lives. Six or seven families will share a common courtyard and have communal meals. A dinner of peanut sauce and rice has become Tim's favorite. Eighty percent of the population lives through subsistence farming, growing mostly peanuts, sorghum, millit, corn, rice and cotton.

Their popularity as foreigners is both a benefit and a trial, they said. For people in Burkina Faso it's a great honor to shake the hand of a white person.

"It makes the kids' week to sit down and talk with them," Becky said.

At the same time, their popularity can be a trial.

"You're a rock star, but sometimes you don't want that rock star feeling," she said.

Tim said sometimes it's too hot to really want to hang out or talk with people. A nap is sometimes preferable, but the people of their community will come over and want to spend time with them.

The triumphs of their year of Peace Corps service have included learning French, integrating into the community, improving their students' study skills, adapting to the culture, forming various clubs and exchanging cultures.

Something else they appreciate about the culture of their community is the hospitality of the people.

"I didn't expect them to be so open," Tim said. "Their hospitality is mind-blowing."

They left for their U.S. visit just before the planting season, and their neighbor is concerned enough about them having food that he has promised to plant corn for them.

"It makes you go, 'wow,'" Tim said.

The couple has a blog about their experiences in Burkina Faso, which can be accessed at www.burkinafasoadventure.blogspot.com. Copyright 2010 Daily Review Atlas. Some rights reserved

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Story Source: Review Atlas

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